RAGTIME Magazine by RAGTIME

RAGTIME THE RECORDING ARTISTS GUILD MAGAZINE THE MUSIC MONITIZATION ACT, YOU MUST READ THIS YEAR PAGE 10

RAG TOP 10 ARTIST PAGE 21

SAM SMITH FINDS HIS VOICE IN THE SKIN HE IS IN IN A NEW WAY

WAYS WOMAN IN MUSIC NAVIGATE THE WINDING ROAD OF THE BUSNIESS

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RAG TIME Magazine “An Era Deﬁned By Music” hEps://rag.org/

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JUNE Issue No. 0121

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MAY 1ST 2019 VOLUME 10 NUMBER 5

RAGTIME

Indie is the new major Page 7 Le3er From The Editor Page 8 Music Makes Music Make A Diﬀerence Page 9 Music Business Tips Page 10 Music MoneKzaKon Act Page 26 10 Ways Women In Music Navigate The Business Page 30 RAG TOP 10 Page 32 Sam Smith In His Own Skin

From The Founder

Byron Booker Recording ArLsts Guild Founder & Chairman

When I started the Guild over a decade ago I knew that it would be more than just another music associaLon adapLng to the ever changing landscape of the music business. RAG was meant to be an ever expanding naLon of creaLves who forge a new path where by we as a community design the industry as we see it. RAG TIME Magazine shines a spotlight on the game changers that are impacLng the industry.

Byron, founder of the Recoding ArLsts Guild Inc., has been Chairman of the Guild since its incepLon in 2009. Byron has been a music execuLve for the past 20 years having facilitated recording and publishing deals with Sony and Universal Music while producing record breaking live concerts / streaming events. The Recording ArLsts Guild is an associaLon of recording arLsts in the USA and Canada. RAG works to enhance and improve the careers of recording arLsts by providing business tools, legal assistance, important discounts, promoLng the fair wages for recording arLsts, legislaLve acLon for arLsts, educaLon to all recording arLsts about changes happening in the industry, health and welfare for recording arLsts and providing tools that can help increase earnings and further the careers of recording arLsts. Music & Tech Entrepreneur Byron Booker has taken his streaming media and content development experience to the next level with the launching of a new venture called Lookhu. Lookhu is an online video service that oﬀers a selecLon of popular and exclusive movies, TV shows, games and more on a free, ad-‐supported or paid commercial free service basis. Instantly stream just about any kind of entertainment found anywhere . Enjoy the most exclusive behind the scene videos from some of your favorite musician, personaliLes and celebs . Explore a wide array of movies documentaries, music videos and more. 6

From The Editor He has a vision for RAGTIME, which is to highlight the stories, lessons and triumphs of the members of RAG. Our viewers of more than 10,000 will leave with a sense of empowerment knowing that they, too, can leave a legacy worth wriLng about. The RAGTIME magazine moEo is "A Time Deﬁned By Music," and that Lme is alive and well today.

RAG TIME Magazine Editor & Chief

Paul Salfen is a Dallas-‐based editor and writer who currently holds the posiLon of Managing Editor for The Recording ArLsts Guild's magazine RAGTIME. He has previously held the posiLons of Editorial Director and Editor-‐In-‐Chief for ENVY PublicaLons (ENVY Magazine, Replay Sports Monthly), Managing Editor and Associate Publisher of 944 Magazine Texas Regional Editor for Where Magazine and Editor and Publisher of Dallas Music Guide. He has spent the past 12 years interviewing the biggest and brightest stars in ﬁlm and music including the likes of Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Angelina Jolie, Will Smith, Willie Nelson and Ozzy Osbourne, as well as a series of sports, travel and business arLcles. Salfen is a serial entrepreneur in the media industry, having started and/or built up several publicaLons both online and in print. He also serves as a consultant for a wide variety of companies, even those outside of media. In addiLon to freelancing for top newspapers, magazines and websites, including The Dallas Morning News, Quick, La Mode, SUCCESS and New York Resident, Salfen has been a weekly guest on local TV (ABC, Fox), radio (CNN Radio) and podcast shows and is currently working on a television show of his own.

+ = Music Makes Music is a non-‐proﬁt designed to mo4vate, inspire, and educate youth on the importance of staying drug and gang free knowing their self-‐worth and con4nuing their educa4on through a hands on interac4ve musical experience.

Music Makes Music (MMM) is the charitable arm of the Recording ArLsts Guild (RAG). MMM is dedicated to improving lives through the power of music. Through partnerships with arLsts and strong Les in the music industry, MMM develops and funds music-‐related therapy and educaLon programs, and serves members of the community who face unexpected hardships through its Emergency Relief Fund. Generous donaLons and support of arLsts and fans enables MMM to fund everything from drug rehab treatments and helping communiLes in need, to music educaLon in schools and music camps for those with disabiliLes.

For more informaLon, please visit hEps://musicmakesmusic.org/

Music

Hey guys, here at The Recording ArLsts Guild like to share insider info to help independent arLsts take advantage of an ever changing music business. Today we'll be talking about becoming your own booking agent. This is a topic we've touched on with a few of our Master Class videos but we thought it would be good to break it down here for you.

How To Book Gigs On Your Being an INDIE ARTISTS SELF Booking agent Own As An Indie Musician. 1.  Finding the RIGHT Venues to Book Gigs Gigs – before a booking agent will work with you every musician has to start out booking their own gigs and concerts. But, as you’ve probably realized, this is a lot easier said than done. Today we will explore how to get more gigs as an independent musician.

The first step of the booking process is always research. Most venues prefer to work with professional arLsts, and the best way to prove your professionalism is to show that you care is to take the Lme to do some basic research. 2. Make a Spreadsheet Create a spreadsheet for yourself with informaLon on local venues. Here are some things that would be useful to include: Venue Name, Website, Email, Phone number, The name of the booker, Venue size, address, a short descrip4on on the type of music and audience they cater to, Have you played there before … 3. Make a ConnecKon Personal connecLons are everything in the music business. And I’m not just talking about your connecLons with booking agents and venues. Your connecLons with other local bands could be your biggest asset when it comes to booking gigs or breaking into new music scenes or larger venues. 4.  ContacKng Venues If you’ve had the chance to play at the venue, the best way to connect with venue owners or promoters is in person. However, if you’re wriLng an email you want to be short and to the point. Here are some best-‐pracLces: Make the subject line clear, Use ac4onable language, Address the booker by name, & Be brief and stay relevant 5.  Make a PromoKon Plan Especially if you’re playing smaller, local venues, you’re going to be doing most of the promoLon yourself, so tell them how you will promote the show. At the most basic level, you can set up a Facebook event, put up some fliers, and share some social posts and emails promoLng the gig 6.  Follow Up and Be Professional The process doesn’t end aper you get the gig. If you want to really connect with the local audience, you need to play the venues regularly. So introduce yourself to the venue’s booker and staff and keep in touch. 7.  Think Outside the Box As an end note, keep in mind that you don’t need to only book gigs at tradiLonal venues. Live music is something so embedded in our culture. And that means there are A LOT of opportuniLes out there especially the ones your create.

Visit hEps://newarLstmodel.com/book-‐gigs/ for the full arLcle

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FOCUS ENERGY MOOD CLARITY

You’ve Got What It Takes .

naturally

hEps://www.herberall.com/

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WOMEN IN MUSIC NAVIGATE THE WINDING ROADS OF THE BUSINESS.

Notes from the minds of the most successful music business professionals in the Industry.

#1. VALUE GOOD PEOPLE OVER GOOD TALENT “I think that when you're making your way up in the music industry, you have all these heroes and the reasons why they are your heroes. As soon as you get into the industry, your guidelines change a liEle bit. For me, my heroes now are great people ﬁrst and great arLsts second. ” Taylor Swip”

#4. take time to experiment I didn't have any knowledge of the music industry when I ﬁrst got to L.A., and I really didn't know on a creaLve level what I wanted to sound like, so I had to do a lot of experimenLng. It led to a spiral of depression and being broke. –Skylar Grey” 26

#5. understand the power of timing Coming into the music industry, even when I was a kid, one thing I learned is Lming is everything. You being prepared is everything. Kelly Rowland

#7. be ok with going it alone You've got to love yourself ﬁrst. You've got to be okay on your own before you can be okay with somebody else. Jennifer Lopez

#9. EMBRACE THE WILD I think as far as the music industry is concerned, it's kind of been the wild, wild West in a way with the Internet, which is not necessarily a bad thing to me. Queen LaLfah 27

#5. out work the competition I think it's healthy for a person to be nervous. It means you care -‐ that you work hard and want to give a great performance. You just have to channel that nervous energy into the show. Beyonce Knowles

#7. market everywhere always I thank God for my failures. Maybe not at the Lme but aper some reﬂecLon. I never feel like a failure just because something I tried has failed. Dolly Parton

#9. believe in your genius The hardest thing to ﬁnd in life is balance -‐ especially the more success you have, the more you look to the other side of the gate. What do I need to stay grounded, in touch, in love, connected, emoLonally balanced? Look within yourself. Celine Dion 28

#5. out work the competition To me, music is art and fashion is art, but fame? Fame isn't art, but the person you become when you're famous -‐ your alter ego -‐ that's art. Cardi B

#7. market everywhere always I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because seEling is the worst feeling in the world. Rihanna

Artists Of The Month Link

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Cornelius Beatz link

ZINO RICO link

Artists Of The Month link

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Sam Smith's

plainLve voice is a quaveringly vulnerable thing. As fragile as Adele's is robust and every bit as emoLve, it has taken him from special-‐guest status on dance tracks by Naughty Boy and Disclosure to his own James Bond song and beyond. Whether he's dramaLcally crooning torch songs with an orchestra or exploring his upper register over dance beats, Smith's tracks are open stark and confessional— heartbroken postcards from the end of his tether—and Lnged with gospel fervor and the raw honesty of

soul.

Grammy Award-‐winning singer-‐songwriter Sam Smith has come out as gender nonbinary.

“I’m not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between,” Smith said Friday on actor Jameela Jamil’s new Instagram show, “I Weigh Interviews.” Smith said when he saw the words "nonbinary" and "genderqueer" and heard people speak about these idenLLes, which are used to describe those who idenLfy as neither exclusively male nor female, he thought, "F-‐-‐ck, that's me.” While many nonbinary and gender-‐nonconforming individuals prefer to use the gender-‐neutral pronouns “they” and “them,” several news reports claim Smith sLll prefers male pronouns, like “he” and “him." While this is the first Lme Smith has explicitly idenLfied as nonbinary, the performer has previously talked about his gender idenLty lacking a label. In an October 2017 interview with The Sunday Times, Smith said, "I don't know what the Ltle would be, but I feel just as much woman as I am man." In his conversaLon with Jamil, Smith said he came out as gay when he was 10 and stopped wearing male clothing when he was 16, adding that he would wear fur and makeup to school. During his "I Weigh Interviews" appearance, Smith also discussed his ongoing body-‐image struggles. Though he said he's achieved greater self-‐acceptance over the years, he said he has “always had a war between my body and my mind.” He revealed that he had liposucLon when he was 12 aper a doctor discovered he was developing breasts because his hEps://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-‐out/i-‐m-‐not-‐male-‐ body was storing high levels of estrogen in his chest. or-‐female-‐sam-‐smith-‐comes-‐out-‐n984541 33

When I lived in Inglewood from 2016 to 2018, I saw TMC shirts that read “Crenshaw” and “Slauson” on the backs of patrons at black-‐owned businesses like Woody’s BBQ (just up the block from TMC), The Serving Spoon, and Simply Wholesome. When I worked as a teaching assistant at Los Angeles Southwest College in West Athens, I saw students studying and working in hopes of making it out of their own crime-‐ridden and economically neglected blocks of South LA while wearing the TMC logo. If ever I talked to students about their favorite musicians, someone was sure to menLon Hussle. The clothes, the music—both were moLvaLon. Smith is not the only celebrity to idenLty as nonbinary. "Billions" star Asia Kate Dillon, "Transparent" creator Jill Soloway and "RuPaul's Drag Race" contestant ValenLna also idenLfy as nonbinary. A growing number of states across the U.S. now legally recognize nonbinary gender idenLLes on official documentaLon. At least eight states and Washington, D.C., offer a gender-‐neutral opLon on driver’s licenses and state-‐issued ID cards, while at least five permit gender-‐neutral birth cerLficates. Sam Smith is one of the most famous and clebebrated openly gay singers in the world. Yes, most of his songs are about heartbreak and broken relaLonships, but his voice is too amazing to ignore. He rose to fame in 2012 aper his breakthrough single "Latch" peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. “Self-‐love, I think people think it's a desLnaLon,” said Smith. “It’s a pracLce.” Last March, Smith publically came out as genderqueer and nonbinary, further embracing his own idenLty and confidence in who he is. "You do not idenLfy in a gender. You are a mixture of all these different things. You are your own special creaLon. That is how I take it. I am not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between —somewhat on the spectrum."

Sam Smith may be good at communicaLng through his music, but saying the “right thing” doesn’t always come easily to him. In an emoLonal new interview with The New York Times, the singer talks about the challenges of being a public figure. The backlash against him reached a fever pitch aper his infamously botched Oscar acceptance speech last year, during which he mistakenly claimed to be the first gay person to win an Oscar. “I’m not the most eloquent person,” he admiEed. “I didn’t get the best grades in school. I mean, I’m just good at singing.” Smith, 27, says he looks to the late George Michael as a guide -‐-‐ not just in music, but in the way he used his plaworm to be a spokesperson for the gay community. “I just feel like I’m going to offend someone every Lme I open my mouth,” he said. “I feel like George Michael had a way of being authenLc to himself and honest in a way that was warm.” “People forget but no one learns about gay history in school. Nothing. So I didn’t know anything about my history as a gay man and then words like ‘spokesperson’ are being thrown at me when I’ve just brought out my first album," he conLnued. "It scared me because I was like, I don’t know anything about being gay, really.” To that end, the Oscar winner made it a point to start educaLng himself, but he said he’s sLll learning. “The only thing I’d like everyone to know is I’m really sorry if I say the wrong things,” he said. “I don’t want to offend anyone and my intenLons are genuinely pure and good. I’m sLll trying to figure [expleLve] out and I’d like to be treated like a human. If I make mistakes, don’t kill me.” hEps://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/sam-‐smith-‐reflects-‐gay-‐spokesperson/story?id=50873078

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